The Whole Sad, Sorry Tale
by Julia Mars
Summary: Inspired by the Sorting Hat song in Order of the Phoenix, this goes back about 1000 years ago to the Salazar Slytherin's final year teaching at Hogwarts. Told basically through the eyes of Gryffindor's great niece, who has her own story to add.
1. PrologueInspiration

"In times of old when I was new

And Hogwarts barely started

The founders of our noble school

Thought never to be parted:

United by a common goal,

They had the selfsame yearning,

To make the world's best magic school

And pass along their learning.

"Together we will build and teach!

"The four great friends decided

And never did they dream that they

Might someday be divided,

For were there such friends anywhere

As Slytherin and Gryffindor?

Unless it was the second pair

Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?

So how could it have gone so wrong?

How could such friendships fail?

Why, I was there and I can tell

The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those

Whose ancestry is purest."

Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose

Intelligence is surest."

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those

With brave deeds to their name."

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot,

And treat them all the same."

These differences caused little strife

When first they came to light

For each of the four founders had

A House in which they might

Take only those they wanted, so,

For instance Slytherin

Took only pure-blood wizards

Of great cunning, just like him,

And only those of sharpest mind

Were taught by Ravenclaw

While the bravest and the boldest

Went to daring Gryffindor.

Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,

And taught them all she knew,

Thus the Houses and their founders

Retained friendships firm and true.

So Hogwarts worked in harmony

For several happy years,

But then discord crept among us

Feeding on our faults and fears.

The Houses that, like pillars four,

Had once held up our school,

Now turned upon each other and

Divided, sought to rule.

And for a while it seemed the school

Must meet an early end,

What with dueling and with fighting

And the clash of friend on friend.

And at last there came a morning

When old Slytherin departed

And though the fighting then died out

He left us quite downheartened.

And never since the founders four

Were whittled down to three

Have the Houses been united

As they once were meant to be

And now the Sorting Hat is here

And you all know the score:

I sort you into Houses

Because that is what I'm for,

But this year I'll go further,

Listen closely to my song:

Though condemned I am to split you

Still I worry that it's wrong

Though I must fulfill my duty

And must quarter every year

Still I wonder whether sorting

May not bring the end I fear

Oh know the perils, read the signs,

The warning history shows,

For our Hogwarts is in danger

From external, deadly foes

And we must unite inside her

Or we'll crumble from within

I have told you, I have warned you…

Let the sorting now begin."

(OotP, 184-7)

3


	2. Arrival

Chapter 1 

"…At least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students, each pulled, Harry could only assume, by an invisible horse, because when they climbed inside one and shut the door, the coach set off all by itself, bumping and swaying in procession."

(PoA, 68)

_It's just a few more feet,_ thought Alice Lyondire. Her arms felt ready to break off after dragging her trunk for so long, but that was not what she was thinking about entirely. The traditional "horseless" carriages were waiting just ahead, and some already contained students waiting to depart. A few friends hailed to Alice, who nodded her head in return since she had no free hand with which to wave.

Alice's trunk became feather light as she neared the leading carriage. She ran a pale hand through her red and gold hair as she sighed with relief. Upon looking up, she saw three happy faces looking out at her from the first carriage in the procession: Sylvia and Julian Potter, and Sam Weasley. Julian, despite "trying" to hide it, was holding a thin piece of dark wood. When Alice was at the open door, her friends assisted her in "heaving" the feather light trunk into the carriage (pretenses must be kept, after all), and Julian offered her a hand up.

"I don't think I could have lasted much longer without bewitching the trunk myself!" said Alice, pushing her spectacles up on her nose.

"At least you didn't have to put up with someone rubbing in that he could use magic and you couldn't _all_ summer!" said Sylvia, eyeing her brother evilly. Julian stared off into space pseudo innocently.

"At least you don't spend all year seeing teachers," said Alice. "I have loads to tell you later."

"Hey, there's Maggie and Bryan!" said Sylvia as she waved to their friends climbing into the next carriage.

"So anyways, what were you all doing before I got here?" asked Alice.

"Looking up a cooling charm," said Julian, turning back to his books. Alice smiled and took her wand out of her robes. She held it vertically and moved it in a counter-clockwise circle. The other three sighed as a gentle breeze filled the carriage and the temperature dropped at least ten degrees.

"Is there a charm you _don't_ know?" sighed Sam.

"I'm sorry?" snapped Alice sarcastically.

Obviously, Alice and her friends were not heading to a normal school. They attended the then newly started Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Alice's great uncle, Godric Gryffindor, had helped found the school. (As of late, the school had just started accepting Muggle-born children.) Alice had lived with her great uncle Godric since the age of four., and she had a few special duties at Hogwarts due to her extensive knowledge of the place. Alice met several of her closest friends during her time at the school before officially starting. Sam Weasley, Ella Diggory, Bryan Black and Julian Potter were all a year ahead of Alice, and Ella's beau, Max MacMillan, had finished school the previous year. Sylvia Potter and Maggie Malfoy, Alice's best friends, were sixth years with her. Alexa Chang and Luke Lupin, the groups youngest two, were in fifth year.

"Hi, Ella!" Sylvia called out the window, waving to a tall brunet girl as she got into the next carriage. Alice emerged from that carriage minutes later after performing her cooling charm for them.

"So what's this thing you were going to tell us?" asked Sam as Alice re-entered. Just then, the doors of all the carriages magically shut, and they started to move. Several kids waved goodbye to parents and siblings; everyone in Alice's carriage knew their parents had left long before.

"I didn't want the others to hear yet; they might take offense," explained Alice. Everyone in this carriage was in Gryffindor's House. Alice continued, "Uncle Godric was having some problems with the others. I'm not sure, but I think Slytherin tried to send curses to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"Really!" gasped Sylvia, twisting a lock of strawberry-blonde hair around her finger.

"I thought they were all best friends," said Julian.

"I guess everything at Hogwarts is putting stress on the relationships," said Alice. "Running a school can be hard."

"I never really liked ol' Sal that much," said Sam wisely.

"Yes, you did; you wanted nothing more than for him to compliment you on your potions in first year," corrected Julian tussling his flaming red hair.

"I was young and un-jaded, what did I know then?" joked Sam.

"You should have heard the discussions before the school started," groaned Alice. "My great uncle only wanted children from brave families, Slytherin wanted purebloods, Ravenclaw wanted smart ones; Hufflepuff is the only one who would take everyone."

"I guess that's why Ravenclaw hates to slow down in class," reasoned Sylvia.

"So how bad did things get?" asked Sam.

"Slytherin never actually did anything, just wanted to," explained Alice. "I don't even know what it was about."

"I've been noticing the last few new Years have been rather bitter toward other Houses," added Julian.

"Everything worked out, but I wouldn't worry. They're all best friends," said Alice, unsure if she was convincing herself, too, or not.

"We all know that doesn't mean they don't disagree," said Sylvia, completely missing Alice's attempt to put the discussion to rest.

"They work everything out," said Alice stoutly.

"For now, anyways," said Sam, rehashing the thought yet again. Alice was beginning to regret telling them; she did not thing that her friends would take it so seriously.

"I wouldn't worry about it. They're all too smart to let something like that bother them," said Julian as he ran a pale hand through his jet-black hair. Sylvia and Sam, normally very stubborn, nodded and stared out the window.

"You've been practicing, I see," said Alice with knowing smile.

"I plan to try it out on Slytherin this year. I might never need to do another all-nighter again…" he dreamed aloud.

Alice laughed aloud; "Good luck on that! I gave up on Slytherin years ago. The only detentions I ever got were from my attempts-"

Sam and Sylvia seemed to rejoin the living then and Alice cut off her statement. Her two friends were completely oblivious to the conversation that had just happened. Before anyone could say anything, the snack cart materialized before their eyes.

"I can't wait until I'm old enough to Apparate," said Sylvia wistfully. Julian grinned, for he had recently passed his test. Each person clearly pronounced the name of the candy he or she wanted, placed some coins on the tray and (given the change was correct) the snack would appear. As always, the Potters had given their children enough money for themselves and all their friends to buy a week's worth of food. By the time the cart left, each had more than his or her weight in chocolates, butterscotches, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Fizzing Whizbies, and of course, Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans.

"I love your parents," said Sam to Sylvia and Julian with a mouth full of Cauldron Cake. They kept eating and experimenting with charms until it fell too dark to see, and they became too tired to keep their wands lit. Finally, the carriages slowed to a halt. The windows showed a black, velvety sky dotted with diamond stars sparkling. Alice was the only on in the carriage still awake. She had a special job to do. Though technically she was not above the other prefects or Head Boy and Girl, Alice had a few responsibilities beyond theirs because she had been at Hogwarts so long; she also had a few special abilities which they did not. She crept out of the carriage and made her way all through the procession, stopping at each carriage.

"Are there any first years?" she asked the occupants of each. She sent the first years over to the boats where the Head Boy and Girl were waiting. "Leave your trunks," she would add. If a carriage was all first years, she walked over to the space between carriages and lead the empty one away as though leading a horse. Because only one who had seen death could see the thestrals that pulled the carriages, Alice was a perfect candidate for the task.

"Do we have everyone?" she asked the first years after freeing the thestrals from the empty carriages and waving her wand to send the empty carriages back to their storage facility. The first years all nodded.

"All right then- FORWARD!" said the Head Boy as he tapped the first boat with his wand. The boats sprang forward across the water.

Alice returned to her own carriage and climbed in. "Go on," she said to the thestral, and he took off; the rest followed suite. The occupants of Alice's carriage were beginning to wake up. Sylvia realized that she had been sleeping on Sam's shoulder and quickly moved to the other side of the seat as Alice sat down by Julian. He and Sam slowly became conscious once again as the carriage landed. Everyone climbed once again out of the carriage and on to the lawn, hailing greetings to each other. They all wandered into the Castle and the Great Hall, each person found his or her House table.

5


	3. the welcome feast

Chapter 2 

"'The hat feels itself honor-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels necessary… Its advice is always the same: Stand together, be strong from within.'"

(OotP, 187, 189)

Aside from the Gryffindor Tower, the Great Hall was Alice's favorite room in the castle. The four House tables ran the length of the room. Each had a banner above it spanning the entire length of the table; red and gold with a lion for Gryffindor, green and silver with a serpent for Slytherin, black and yellow with a badger for Hufflepuff, and blue and bronze with an eagle for Ravenclaw. The founders' table ran the width of the room across from the door. Its banner was purple with all House mascots united around a letter "H." All the founders sat at the table dressed in their House colors. Hufflepuff sat on the right, wearing black robes with canary colored stars. Her long white-blonde hair hung down to her waist, and her brown eyes stared over the crowd with interest. Ravenclaw sat on her left. Rowena was originally from the Far East, and her dark, narrow eyes surveyed the incoming first years. Her dark hair glistened against her midnight blue robes with bronze stars. Slytherin sat next in his sly glory. He sat with his arms crossed in his emerald and silver robes, looking down at the crowd with through his greasy hair and beady eyes. On the very left sat Gryffindor in his crimson and gold glory. His bright blue eyes watched joyfully as the Head Boy and Girl led in the first years. His curly, graying brown hair fell almost to his shoulders, and his had occasionally winked at someone.

"Welcome, new ones!" said Hufflepuff. "I'm sure you've already been told about the ceremony, so let's get started." She waved her wand, and a three-legged stool appeared on the front of the stage. Ravenclaw glided soundlessly to the stool and drew a small, smoky gray circle behind it at approximately head level of a person sitting on the stool. Upon completion, Gryffindor and Slytherin joined her behind the stool, and Hufflepuff began reading names.

"Bones, Andrea!" she called. A little red haired girl at the front of the line walked nervously up to the stool and sat down.

"Close your eyes, my dear," began Ravenclaw. "Try to relax," she added. Ravenclaw seemed to mime sucking something from inside the circle with her wand. A gray smoke ball fell from the wand tip into her waiting left hand. Each founder put a hand underneath Ravenclaw's, and they watched the smoke ball turn yellow.

_"HUFFLEPUFF!"_ shouted Gryffindor's hat as the smoke ball faded away. The same ritual continued, the yellow balls going to Hufflepuff, blue to Ravenclaw, green to Slytherin, and red to Gryffindor. Finally, they reached the last name, "Zdelictch, Sarah!" She sat on the stool and Ravenclaw proceeded once again, except the ball stayed gray. It could take a few seconds up to about three minutes for the ball to pick a color. This one remained gray for five minutes before the school became anxious. Murmurs ran around the room; "Why hasn't it changed yet?" "Is she a Muggle?" "Which House, honestly!"

"Did you do something wrong?" spat Slytherin.

"Of course not," replied Ravenclaw, uncharacteristic sharp.

"Perhaps she has qualities we all value!" said Hufflepuff cheerfully. The other founders rolled their eyes collectively.

"I suggest we resolve to the old way," said Gryffindor. He referred to a previous selection method in which each founder handpicked students, but as they aged, they sought to find a way for future teachers to pick students for Houses according to the original standards. Each founder took his or her hand away and all smoke vanished with a wave of Gryffindor's wand. Hufflepuff stepped around in front of the girl with a big smile.

"Now, dear," she began, "Do you work hard at every task you are assigned?"

"I- I think- I don't always need to," the girl replied.

"Don't need to?" said Ravenclaw, moving to stand next to Hufflepuff. "Do you succeed without trying hard? Things come easily to you?"

"Sometimes," the girl replied. "I get by."

"You are busy with other things?" asked Gryffindor.

"I guess so."

"Would you consider yourself cunning?" said Slytherin slyly.

"Or honorable?" added Gryffindor.

"I can be sly…"

"Dear, are you pure-blood?"

"SALAZAR! We agreed not to ask that, since parentage should not matter!" scolded Hufflepuff.

"You _three_ agreed. I did not," hissed Slytherin.

"Sal, don't be difficult," Gryffindor groaned.

"You're not above the rest of us either, Godric," said Ravenclaw.

"Rowena, I was only-"

"_Please_, everyone-" begged Hufflepuff.

"Helga-"

_"Quiet,"_ said a voice finitely. The founders looked up to see Gryffindor's hat sighing in frustration.

"Yes, Sorting Hat?" said Gryffindor quietly.

"I hope you're all ashamed of yourselves, fighting in front of the students like that," he scolded. "I suggest you let me decided where she should go since you all are incapable of doing so."

Gryffindor took the hat of his head, placed it on the girl's head, and stepped back to hide his blush; it is not every day that such great wizards are told off by a hat. After about a minute, the hat made its decision.

_"SLYTHERIN!"_

Little Sarah Zdelictch ran off to the Slytherin table, and the founders took their seats. They became suddenly aware of all the students staring at them. Ravenclaw stood up to open the feasting.

"Well, that was more eventful than planned, and even the best wizards much sometimes eat their own words, or be fed their own words by a hat!" she began, her casual tone fooling no one due to the death-glare still in her eyes. "This year will bring some new changes, but let them be announced after the feast. _Bon apitette!"_

The tables filled spontaneously with turnkey, chicken, steak, corncobs, broccoli, beans, potatoes, soup, cheese, and all sorts of other delicious Wizarding sweets for dessert.

"What was that about?" asked Luke Lupin, a small brown haired boy who had now joined his fellow Gryffindors and was piling his plate to the heavens.

"No idea," said Julian, staring directly at Alice as though adding, 'but she might know, tell us…'

"It's their different preferences as to admittance," said Alice. "They didn't know they were so different when it all started." She took a spoonful of soup. "It doesn't help that they have different ideas about almost every running…"

"Sounds enjoyable," said Sam.

A group of Slytherins on the way back to their end of the table passed behind them, knocking Alice into her mashed potatoes. "Oh, I'm sorry," said a dark haired girl of about sixteen. "Wait, it's you, Lyondire, never mind," she added.

"You apologize, Cassandra Lestrange!" said a blonde girl from the Slytherin table. She and a tall, dark boy stood up to confront Cassandra.

"Maggie Malfoy and Bryan Black, how adorable," she said in mock baby talk tones, and continued to her seat with the rest of her friends.

"Sorry about Cass," growled Bryan. "She hasn't been right in the head since I stopped courting her."

"I'm just glad she's in 7th year and not in my room," said Maggie. "Alice, are you all right?"

Alice was attempting a gentle scouring charm to clean by not harm her face; "What? Oh, yes, I'm fine," she replied in an offhand, annoyed voice. She picked up a fork and began to eat her shepherd's pie. _"J'adore les étudiants, j'adore les étudiants, j'adore les étudiants…"_ she began repeating to herself.

"What?" Sylvia asked.

Once everyone was full, Slytherin stood up to begin the speeches. "As I'm sure you are all aware, there are forbidden areas around the school," he said. "The Forbidden Forest is such named for a reason, for example. You are not to enter the staff room or a teacher's office without permission."

"Curfew to be in your House is eight o'clock," added Hufflepuff.

"Thank you, Helga," said Slytherin through gritted teeth.

"Let us explain about House points," said Gryffindor. "Participation in class and good actions will gain your House points; misbehavior will lose points. The House with the most points at the end of the year wins the House cup, and those students will be honored at the final banquet."

"I'm sure you've all had a long day, so tonight we'll tuck in early," said Ravenclaw. "First years, please congregate at the end of the tables when we are done, and prefects from your House will lead you to your Common Room."

"You will get your schedules in the morning at breakfast," said Slytherin.

"See you all at breakfast!" called Hufflepuff over the clatter of everyone getting up.

"Alice! Sylvia! Over here!" called Ella Diggory from the Hufflepuff table. The girls made their way to each other. "How was summer?"

"Great! Those two months of no homework were bliss compared to OWL cramming," said Sylvia.

"That reminds me," said Alice, "how many OWLs did you get?"

"Enough…" said Sylvia sheepishly.

"You studied like mad and you got 'enough?'" said Ella. "_I_ even got a couple I was proud of!"

"Ella, you're not stupid," sighed Alice.

"We all are, compared to you," said Ella with a teasing smile.

Alice rolled her eyes; "I have to show first years to the tower, see you later!"

Sylvia and Ella talked a bit longer, while Alice made her way to the Gryffindor first years. "First years in Gryffindor, this way please," called Alice. She led them out the doors of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. The other Gryffindor prefects followed along and made certain no one got lost. It was the consensus that Alice was the head prefect.

"How far is it to Gryffindor?" asked a small, sandy-blonde haired girl with and Irish accent.

"The Gryffindor tower is on the seventh floor," replied Alice. "What's your name?"

"Fiona Finnigan."

"Well, Fiona, I hope everyone pays attention to how one gets from the Great Hall to Gryffindor Tower," said Alice. She stopped them for a moment. "By the way, when you're lost in this place-"

"_When_ we're lost?" Fiona exclaimed.

"Believe me, you'll get lost at least once," said Alice. "I was here when they built this place, and _I_ still get lost. When you're lost, don't ask just anyone for directions, especially the suites of armor and doors; find a prefect. Most people think it is incredibly funny to get you lost and confused on your first day." She continued the rest of the way to a portrait that took up the entire wall, of a Fat Lady in a pink dress.

"Why, hello, Alice dear," said the portrait. All the Muggle-born students (who had been fascinated with everything) gasped openly.

"Hello," said Alice to the Fat Lady, then to the students: "I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that everything moves and most things talk." The portrait swung open for them, revealing a circular hole in the wall. Alice climbed through the hole and into the Common Room. She signed with relief. She was finally home.

This was Alice's favorite place in the castle. The decoration consisted entirely of the House colors, deep reds and gold. There was always a crackling fire keeping everyone warm, the hearth surrounded by the best squishy armchairs. By the end of the week, tables would hold various people's homework piles. The windows showed the beautiful Hogwarts grounds and the beginning of the Forbidden Forest.

The First Years, predictable as always, ran upstairs to find their things. Alice walked over to the fire where Sam, Sylvia, Julian and Luke were gathered. They sat to the right of the hearth playing Exploding Snap. Alice took a seat between Julian and Luke. "Anything new or different?" asked Sylvia as she placed a card carefully on the card House.

"Nope," yawned Alice.

Julian thrust a hand over her mouth. "Careful!" he hissed. "Don't breathe, we've only two more cards!" As he uncovered her mouth, Sam sneezed, knocking down the entire House.

"SAM!" they all groaned. He mumbled something about Alice's fault.

"So, Alice," said Julian. "What's the dish with that argument at dinner?"

"I don't know," she said rather unconvincingly.

"Come off it, we know you know something," said Sam.

"I told you on the way here; it's just some leadership issues," she groaned. "It's not a problem.

"They've never disagreed about placement before," said Luke.

Alice snorted a short laugh; "Spoken by he who has seen the least to one who has seen them all. This happened once or twice before all of you got here. Why do you think they invented the hat?"

"What did they mean by 'pure-blood?'" Luke asked.

Everyone looked down and avoided each other's eyes. They all stayed silent a moment, and then Sam explained, "It means your parents were a witch and a wizard."

"Well, why did it upset everyone?" asked Luke. "I thought it would be a good thing."

"Being one doesn't make people upset," said Julian. "It really doesn't matter any more, not that it ever should have."

"It doesn't matter _to most people_," Alice corrected bitterly. "There are still some out there who think being a half-blood or Muggle-born makes people second class."

"Like Slytherin," Sylvia whispered softly.

"We're not pointing fingers here," Alice snapped unusually quickly. Everyone stared at her, as though there was more to the story, but no one pushed the subject. She yawned again, "I'm going to tuck in early tonight," all bitterness and anger gone from her voice. "Long day tomorrow, couple new things…"

The group bade her a slightly awkward goodnight, and Alice went upstairs to her dormitory that now bore a sign that said "Sixth Years." She pushed the heavy wooden door open and took in the sight. The circular dormitory looked the same as always: five four-poster beads with gold embroidered crimson hangings. She walked over to the full-length mirror and took in her reflection in the same way. Bright blue eyes covered by small, dark green framed oval spectacles, slightly rounded nose, pink lips, pale skin, short, modest yet curvy build; everything was the same.

Alice turned her attention to her hair; a portrait of her family from when she was young depicted her with mousy brown hair, but now it was many shades of dark red, bright red, soft orange and golden blonde. She pulled up her right sleeve, exposing a magnificent sight. Outlined in gold and red flames was an image of a single feather, extending from her shoulder to her elbow. A rose of the same fashion encircled her wrist as well. Alice knew they were remnants from the night she became able to see thestrals, but she did not remember what had happened, or who she had seen die. She took out her wand; it was a longer one at eleven and a half inches, mahogany, and a Phoenix feather core.

"Accio portraits," she said, and two colored drawings floated out of her trunk into her hand. One was of a mousy brown haired woman who was waving and smiling. The second was of a tall, dark haired man, also waving. She held them up on either side of her face and stared into the mirror at the disjointed family portrait as she asked, "Where are you?"

8


	4. seeds of discontent

Chapter 3 

"'Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them- we'll be able to see if it's true.'

'Wish McGonagall favored us.'"

(PS, 101)

"This is insanity! Alice, would you look at this?" exclaimed Sylvia. Alice had just entered the Great Hall on the first morning of term, and Sylvia was screaming about the timetable as was her custom.

"Of course she's seen it," said Maggie, who had entered just behind Alice. "She's always seen and heard everything that happens here before we do," she added with a very subtle bitterness in her voice.

"Potions, Divination, Ancient Runes, and Defense Against the Dark Arts," recited Alice. "That's today, isn't it?"

"Yes," mumbled a very disgruntled Sylvia. "Potions first on Monday is murder."

"The only murder will be yours if Slytherin grades one of your Sunday night disasters," said Julian. Sylvia smacked her brother with a mighty smirk to match.

"She's right, though; it is a crazy schedule," said Luke.

"Isn't there another new Divination teacher this year?" asked Alexa from Ravenclaw.

"Yeah, and Ancient Runes, too?" said Bryan from behind.

"Ancient Runes shouldn't be too bad," said Sam.

"Still, Potions first thing on Monday! I can't believe they'd do that to anyone," said Sylvia. She slammed her hands down on what was no longer empty space as she had expected but porridge. "Argh! Disgusting!"

"Sister, just eat something and shut up," said Julian, and he shoved some pancakes into her mouth. The rest of breakfast was fairly uneventful, except for someone shoving something into Sylvia's mouth every time she attempted to speak.

"Enjoy this while you can, Sylvia," called Ella as she was leaving. "You know that every Monday from now until Christmas, you'll be too busy rushing through your Potions homework to eat!" She ran the rest of the way out to avoid a falling apple.

"That reminds me," said Julian as the apple smashed on the Hufflepuff table. "Quidditch will be starting again soon." He brought out his wand and Conjured the team list. "Let's see, I'm hopefully a shoe-in for captain… We lost Andrew Wood so we're down a Keeper… Sam, are you still in for Beater?"

"Of course I am," said Sam as he imitated Beating a Bludger with a fork.

"Good, good…" muttered Julian as he became deaf to anything non-Quidditch.

"I'm heading to class," said Alice. "You know how Slytherin hates tardy students…"

"Oh, shut up," said Sylvia.

"Alice, where on earth is Divination?" asked Luke as he gathered his books.

"North Tower, have fun. It takes about ten minutes just to find the way," she replied.

"Great."

"Alice!" shouted Maggie as she rushed over from the Slytherin table. "I'll walk with you." With that, the girls left the Great Hall and started towards the dungeons. Potions was in the dungeons because Slytherin thought it set the right mood for the subject as well as his class running.

"I was meaning to ask you anyways," began Maggie," what was up with the Sorting?"

"They've been having creative differences," said Alice. "Purebloods, brave deeds, cleverness, it's driving me crazy. I've heard them arguing all summer," she sighed, hoping the discussion would just end.

"Well, I see sort of where they're coming from," said Maggie. Alice stared at her. "I mean, do you really want to live in a school with a bunch of Mudbloods?"

"My father was a Muggle born," said Alice sharply.

"I didn't say there aren't exceptions," said Maggie smoothly. "I'm just generalizing."

"Still, my great uncle only wants the brave ones, Ravenclaw the smart ones, and Hufflepuff doesn't even have standards," Alice sighed.

"Oh well, I don't usually worry about it, I was just curious," said Maggie, as they descended into the school's underbelly. The girls stopped when they reached the dungeon corridor and watched in disgust as rats ran freely back and forth from the various unused dungeons.

"That is so sickening," said Alice.

"I'm going to throw up," groaned Maggie. The color of her face was beginning to match the brilliant green of Slytherin's crest on her robes.

"Don't," said Alice as she dug out her wand. "_Impedimenta!" _Alice's impediment jinx stopped all the rats in their tracks. It was a personal favorite of hers.

"That was easy enough, grumbled a deflated Maggie.

"Come on, it won't last that long," said Alice, and she pulled Maggie through, being careful to avoid the stationary rodents. They were no more than two feet out when the rats all started moving again. Both girls darted into the classroom, which was strangely rat free. Slytherin sat in the chair at the teacher's desk leaning it back on the board while reading _The Daily Prophet_ and resting his feet on the desk. Being that they were in a dungeon, there were bars on all the windows and chains hanging from the ceiling. There were five rows of four cauldrons taking up most of the dank room, and an aisle ran down the middle off the classroom. Storage cabinets occupied what little space was left. Alice and Maggie sat their things down at the left cauldron in the second row.

"Excellent use of the Impediment jinx, Miss Lyondire," said Slytherin, folding his paper and returning all four legs of his chair to the floor, "but unfortunately for you, magic is still not allowed in the corridors. Five points from Gryffindor." Alice held in a groan. More shrieking down the hallway indicated more people arriving. They heard a variety of curses and hexes, none of which seemed to work.

"Why on earth would you give them jelly legs?"

"I panicked!"

"It's just a rat!"

"A rat? Try countless rats!"

_"Finito Incantatem!"_ said Slytherin, and all the rats vanished. "Magic is not permitted in the corridors, so each House loses five points for each spell."

"That's a dirty trick, setting us up like that," said Sylvia, sheathing her wand as she shuffled into the room. She took a seat by Alice and Maggie. The rest of the class ambled in silently and sat down. Slytherin rose up before them to start class. He looked so at home in the dim dungeon light. The light from the torches along the wall exaggerated his gloomy features and sallow skin. He looked even thinner than he was, and his dark hair and robes made him look pale as ever.

"Congratulations, "Slytherin began. "It's your sixth year here and you still don't know the rules." He Summoned his attendance sheet and quickly filled in the roll call; after six years, he knew everyone by face.

"As you should have remembered, we shall start out as we always do with the same potion; you will be brewing the Polyjuice potion," Slytherin instructed as he tapped the board to reveal the recipe. "I expect your best, even though the Potion is well above most of you. Begin."

Alice, Maggie and Sylvia avoided each others' eyes for fear of breaking out in laughter. The three of them had brewed the Polyjuice Potion in their third year because they wanted to see inside other Houses besides their own. They had a few close calls, but had not been caught. Gryffindor and Slytherin had been rather suspicious, but never managed to prove anything.

"Sylvie, why don't you get the knotgrass and fluxweed stuff. Maggie, you get the Boomslang and Bicorn," said Alice, being careful not to meet eyes. She started the fire underneath the cauldron; she had an uncanny ability for making exceptionally strong fires. The water began boiling quickly. Sylvia returned with the Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed picked at the full moon, and knotgrass. They added the Lacewing flied first, for they had to be stewed for 21 days.

"Looks… tasty," said Maggie in disgust as she saw the leeches Alice and Sylvia were cutting.

"Take a knife and a leech," said Sylvia, trying not to breathe too deeply.

"You chickens," said Alice, dumping her leeches into the cauldron. "Fluxweed next."

"The flies are looking at me," said Sylvia.

"Shut up and cut," hissed Maggie just before Slytherin passed by. They did not speak much for the rest of the hour. At the end of class, each group submitted their potion to stew for the allotted time.

"I hate potions," mumbled Hufflepuff Douglas Abbot as soon as they were out of the dungeons. "Slytherin _detests _me."

"Isn't that a bit much?" said Maggie skeptically.

"No," said Alexa resolutely. She and Luke were coming from Divination. Her dark, Oriental eyes gave no merit to the idea that she was planning to explain.

"He gives the good, fresh ingredients to Slytherins and gives the rest of us deformed and rotting ones," Luke explained for her.

"Why did you think we always make _you_ get the ingredients from Slytherin?" said Alice.

"That's ridiculous!" said Maggie. "You're telling me that the whole of your House is bad at Potions because Slytherin gives them bad ingredients?"

"Well, that's definitely part of the reason," said Sylvia.

"Come on, Luke, we'll be late for Arithmancy, "said Alexa in her lofty way. They turned down a hallway and the three girls lost sight of them in the crowd. Momentarily, Julian, Sam and Bryan appeared at the end of the hallway.

"I hate Arithmancy," said Sam. "It's ridiculous."

"You never know," said Bryan. "It's not hard, at least."

"It's simple math, it shouldn't be hard," said Julian.

"It's better than Divination," said Alice, announcing their presence. The three guys each suddenly lost about and inch around the waist.

"Hello," said Sam, the first to recover a voice, though it was just slightly deeper than his natural vocal tones. Sylvia let a small snort escape her. The other two could not contain giggles.

"Come on, we'll be late for Divination," said Maggie, averting her eyes from the scene.

"We'll go with you!" exclaimed Julian.

"Astronomy next," added Bryan. The group made their way through the crowds towards the towers. The Divination tower and the Astronomy tower were near each other so it was not too far out of anyone's way. The guys complained a bit more about Arithmancy; the girls said a few more things about Potions.

"I hear there's a new Divination curriculum, this year," said Maggie, staring at Alice as if to really be asking a question.

"Yes, you're right," said Alice.

"Well, what is it?" asked Maggie.

"I don't know," said Alice bitterly." They wouldn't tell me a thing."

"Wow," said Sam unbelievingly. Alice flicked his ear. They reached the spiral staircases leading to the various towers, said their goodbyes and went their separate stairways. The girls climbed their way up to the Divination classroom at the top of the North Tower.

"I can't take another year of this," said Maggie, out of breath at the top. "I don't care if it clouds the supposed 'Inner Eye' downstairs; I hate this climb!"

"Oh quit complaining, there's only two more years," said Sylvia. They looked up at the trap door as it opened. The girls climbed into the room only to see the usual sight of squishy arm chairs around circular tables. The fire in the corner was oddly appealing, even in the end of summer heat. Alice led them to a table near the warm hearth. Sylvia opened her book, _The Past and Future; a Comprehensive Guide to Divination,_ and turned to the page on which the girls had started doodling in past years. Maggie dug out a pen and was about to start a game of Hangman when an unfamiliar face entered from the office on the other side of the room.

"Good day, students," said a tall, black man as the room darkened. He wore black robes, and little could be seen of his features as the drapes closed and candles extinguished, leaving only the fire for light.

"So this is why they didn't tell me…" whispered Alice to herself.

"The hooded figure un-hooded himself and pulled out a wand. With one flick, the drapes reopened, and the class gasped at the sight of the African wizard. "Now, using whatever divining techniques you wish, tell me about myself," he said. The class rivaled a room full of statues. The year along with most years at Hogwarts thought of Divination class as a formality. The new Professor was not quite so easily persuaded of this fact. "Come now, try _something_," he said. "Why are you all waiting for Alice to answer?" She hasn't heard anything more about me than the rest of you." Alice looked down to avoid all the eyes that flashed in her direction.

"You're an African Wizard," said a small voice from the back.

The new teacher sighed; "Well, I see was have a master of the obvious…" he trailed off.

"Alice, what's wrong?" whispered Sylvia. Alice had a look of surprise on her face. She always attempted a certain form of magic to get information about strangers, but she had never seen a mid like this.

"Your name is Professor Shacklebolt, you used to be a village Shaman, but the village was attacked, and… wow, I didn't know the Patronus Charm worked on Living Shrouds!" she exclaimed, for she would have burst had she kept silent.

"What?" a few members of the class said.

"I see we have an accomplished Legilimens here," said Professor Shacklebolt, rather impressed. "You will be quite a challenge to keep entertained." Alice blushed, and started to wish she had not said anything, because the rest of the class was giving her their usual look of jealous contempt.

"That was something back there, Alice!" said Figg and his friends as they all left Divination. The rest of the year had not known about her Legilimency until that class.

"I've been studying Legilimency with my great uncle," said Alice. "He said I should learn it and I'll understand later why I should."

"Wow," said both girls, though with very different tones and motivating thoughts.

"What 'wow?'" asked Julian. He, Bryan and Sam had just arrived from the Astronomy tower.

"Did _you_ know she was a Legilimens?" exclaimed Maggie.

"What?" shouted Bryan and Sam.

"Yes," murmured Julian.

"I've got to run," said Alice. Julian went after her, and the other four watched the pair of them race toward the Gryffindor tower.

"We should really stop off at the Common Room before dinner," said Maggie to Bryan. They turned a corner earlier than Sam and Sylvia. "I can't believe this," said Maggie when they were out of earshot.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Bryan.

"Alice!" she explained. "She's had private, secret training with Gryffindor for years now!"

"Well, she's his great niece, and technically anyone can ask…" said Bryan, nonplused and knowing that Maggie was not finished venting.

"_She's a Legilimens!"_

"Well, maybe that's a bit much…"

"It's blatant favoritism, that's what it is. I've see this since the beginning, and I don't care if she's his great niece. She's a student here, same as the rest of us, and I'm sick of this," Maggie fumed. Bryan, though he jokingly waved nonexistent smoke away from his face, knew she was right.

The classes _not_ taught by founders were going well. Professor Shacklebolt was the first Divination teacher who did not expect them all to be Seers. Professor Cintrepeda of the Arithmancy department was working them hard, as always. For once, no one had been injured yet in Care of Magical Creatures.

The founders' classes, however, ran much the same way as Slytherin's always had, aside from Hufflepuff's class, which was rather boring in her attempts to make the classes fair for all. In fact, if it had not been for the teething Venomous Tentactulas in every greenhouse, most would have slept through most of her classes. Ravenclaw was breezing through books of advanced spells as though they were the ABCs. With the exception of her own students, everyone thought she had forgotten that she was not teaching prodigies. Gryffindor had introduced human transfiguration. Most Gryffindors were excited for the challenge, but the rest were downright terrified.

"This is getting ridiculous," said Alice at lunch on Tuesday of their third week.

"Human transfiguration is usually seventh year."

"You get to do _human_ transfiguration?" said Luke in wonder. He did not notice the soup dripping off his unleveled spoon.

"Not yet," mumbled Sylvia through an apple.

"I'll never catch up on sleep from Monday midnight astronomy," yawned Luke, nearly spilling the rest of his soup.

"At least you don't wake up to Potions first thing in the week," grumbled Sylvia.

"Oh, give it a rest, already!" shouted Julian, slamming down his pumpkin juice.

"Would you please go one meal with out complaining?"

Sylvia stared for a moment at the spot in her own soup in which a splash of pumpkin juice had landed. She looked up at her brother with an evil eye and said, "You poisoned it…"

"Here it comes," started Alice, and she pulled out a book to distract herself from the coming fight.

_"All summer long, you've been-"_ was all that could be heard before the argument became unintelligible.

"So, Alice, what's your next class?" asked Sam over the argument.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," she answered from within her book. "You?"

"Potions," he groaned.

"What's going on?" asked Alexa as she made her way to her own table.

"Repressed sibling rivalry," said Alice, Sam and Luke.

"Immature Gryffindors," she sighed as she passed the Slytherin table.

"Judgmental Ravenclaws," muttered Maggie in response to Alexa's comment.

_Hypocrite Slytherins,_ thought Ella at Maggie's comment.

"I'm going to be late, I'll see you all later," said Alice, disgusted at the thoughts and statements she was picking up from all her friends.

The rest of the group followed suit, going to their own tables, sitting down and chewing their omelets in silence.

Transfiguration that day became a true battle of wills. It just happened to be the day that Gryffindor had scheduled Human Transfiguration. Normally, no one would care, but House tension being what it was this year, everyone was determined to be the first to transfigure correctly. Alice and Sylvia took their usual seats near the front and for the first time received dirty looks from every person who entered after them. Gryffindor entered just as the bell sounded. He took attendance quickly and cleared the desks to make room.

"I'm glad to see you're all so excited about transfiguring yourselves, as it can go badly if you're only half-heartedly enthused," he said brightly. "It is unlikely that you will succeed today, however. Human Transfiguration is beyond many a grown wizard. Those who transfigure well may be a whole other story entirely, but we'll get to the subject of Animagi later. Alice, dear, would you mind assisting me in demonstration?"

Alice started to the center of the room as always, but Abby Meadows, a shy Hufflepuff, raised her hand. The entire class stared blankly at her. "Yes, Miss Meadows," said Gryffindor distractedly.

"Why is Alice always the one you use for demonstration?" she asked softly. The class now started blankly at Gryffindor, who pondered the question, the real answers, and how to phrase his reply without raising too many eyebrows.

"That is a good question, in the spirit of recent favoritism, correct?" began Gryffindor kindly after a few moments. Abby blushed and looked down. "For now, you can be satisfied to know that I use Alice because she is my great niece, not because she is in Gryffindor."

Abby did not ask any more questions, but most students noticed a slight flicker in Gryffindor's eye that suggested he was not telling the entire truth. Gryffindor continued with class. He showed the class the want motions and made them repeat the correct words. To demonstrate, he turned Alice into a cat and back. He had been practicing with her for a while outside of school for other reasons he had not yet told her. The class divided into threes; one to transfigure, one to be transfigured, and one to stop and get help if the spells backfired on the two involved.

"Why do I get the feeling your great uncle has been practicing another skill with you outside of class?" asked Maggie as she attempted to turn Sylvia's dog legs back to normal.

"I really don't want to talk about it, plus I don't know why," said Alice morbidly. "Finito Incantatem," she added, to get rid of Sylvia's tail.

"Fine then," said Maggie coldly. Alice watched some of the other groups while Maggie and Sylvia rested between transfigurations. Everyone was going about the class work in a total determination to transfigure first, as though they were all trying to prove themselves and their Houses.

"Alice, why don't you help some of them?" said Gryffindor.

"They don't want my help," said Alice glumly. "They're all too possessed by this new rivalry spirit." Gryffindor nodded his head, and moved on to fix a transfiguring pair who had someone conjoined at the stomach.

Things did not fair much better in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Quatrapella noticed instantly that something was wrong with the class. "Now honestly!" she exclaimed as she picked up the Kappa to whom she had been bowing, and she set him back in the tank of water on her desk. "Not a single one of you is paying any attention!"

No one responded or showed any sign of having heard her at all. This was not a wise move anywhere in the school, but especially in Professor Quatrapella's class. Even though Professor Quatrapella lost in weekly competitions with several staff members to see who had the least white hairs, she was still as much of a mischievous child at heart as a five year old. She smiled and picked up her wand off her desk, choosing at random poor Gretta Longbottom. "_Rictusempra!"_ she shouted. Gretta suddenly shrieked with laughter from a tickling fit. Professor Quatrapella chose her next victim, Abby Meadows, and cast her next curse; _"Tarentellegra!"_ Abby's feet began carrying her all around the room in an upbeat dance.

"What's going on?" asked Maggie, coming out of her daze.

_"Avis!"_ said Professor Quatrapella, and girds shot out of her want at Maggie, who shrieked and ducked just in time.

"Oh no," groaned half the class in broken unison.

"_Wingardium Leviosa!"_ added Professor Quatrapella. All their quills hovered in front of their faces.

"Professor!" they all shouted.

She smirked at the class before finishing the display with a final _"Finito Incantatem." _All the effects of her spells and curses stopped immediately. The class gave a collective sigh. "That should teach you all to pay attention in my class," said Professor Quatrapella, and the class stared back in rapt attention.

"Once thing's certain," said Luke that Friday evening, "homework _definitely_ gets worse in OWL year."

"Shut up," said Julian and Sam in unison. They were both half asleep on the chairs by the crackling fire. It was tradition that neither of them opened a book on any Friday ever. Luke, on the other hand, was attempting to understand his Arithmancy.

"Would one of you mind checking my work on this? I'm supposed to-" he started.

"Forget about your homework until Sunday like the rest of us," said Sam maliciously.

"Ask a Ravenclaw- they're the only ones crazy enough to do homework on Fridays," added Julian.

Luke glared at them; "Did you forget that I'm dating Alexa?"

Both boys coughed out a hearty laugh. "She's a bookworm, mate," said Julian. "The whole lot of them think we're lazy slackers."

"We are, mate," said Sam.

"Alice is just as much of a bookworm as Alexa, and you've been sweet on her for months!" Luke shot back angrily. "I'll just ask _her_ to help me, since you two obviously can't." He slammed the book shut and moved to a table.

"Why is he in Gryffindor?" asked Sam.

"He's in Gryffindor for the same reason you are, Weasley," said Alice and she and Sylvia entered the Common Room from the girls' dormitory. "The Sorting ritual placed him here."

"He certainly doesn't act like a Gryffindor," snorted Sam.

"Or like a man, even," sniggered Julian.

Alice surveyed the pair of them with a raised eyebrow. "You two aren't exactly the epitome of masculine daring and bravery either," she said flatly.

"At least we're loyal," said Julian with a smirk.

"Lapdog," snapped his sister. Alice rolled her eyes and dragged Sylvia out for Astronomy. Sylvia noticed that Alice was aggravated, but knew from experience not to ask here what was wrong; she had always been a private person when she was upset.

"What's with Alice?" asked Maggie when she met them at the bottom of the Astronomy Tower.

"Nothing," sighed Alice. She led the way up to the tower while Sylvia and Maggie shrugged and followed her.

14


	5. Halloween

Chapter 4 

"But Ron had been on his side then. He thought he could have coped with the rest of the school's behavior if he could just have had Ron back as a friend…"

(GoF, 259)

The air was turning crisper and the trees were turning every shade of Alice's hair. Leaves were beginning to fall along with rain; it _had_ to be time for Quidditch to start. Julian talked of nothing else throughout September until an announcement was made at the end of the month.

"Alice, will they make the announcement tonight?" asked Julian again as he had every evening for the last two weeks.

"I don't know, Julian," she groaned automatically.

"It's _gotta_ be tonight," he muttered, and he returned to picking at his Shepard's pie. Not five minutes later, Gryffindor rose up to speak.

"As many of you know," he began after getting everyone's attention, "Quidditch season was due to start a few weeks ago. Obviously, it did not, for several reasons." The die-hard Quidditch fans were beginning to look as though Christmas had been cancelled. Ravenclaw stepped up to explain.

"We were mainly afraid the collective competitive spirit of the school would rip it apart," she said with a small laugh. The school stared at the staff table in apprehension. Hufflepuff took a turn to speak.

"After discussing further, we decided to give Quidditch another chance," she said sweetly.

"You are advised, however," said Slytherin, over the erupting cheers, "to keep House rivalries to a minimum." Not a soul heard him. The entire Great Hall was swarming with happy, shouting Quidditch fans; one might say they looked as though Christmas was not only un-cancelled, but also reinstated as a weekly holiday. The founders looked at each other and decided that any other announcements could wait until morning.

"Come on, Alice, we need another Chaser!" Julian begged the next morning in the Common Room.

"I already said I'm too busy," said Alice. She reached down and attempted to free herself from Julian's death grip on her ankles.

_"Please?"_

Alice sighed, "Can't you get Luke or someone?"

"I already did; Luke's too busy and Sylvie and I don't work well on a team together… Sam's already a Beater, along with that tall second year, Wulfric Dumbledore," explained Julian.

"Julian, I'm not any good," Alice whined uncharacteristically.

"I don't care, just play Chaser!" demanded Julian.

"…I refuse to dignify that degradation of my potential importance with a further verbal response," she said in a very sophisticated voice, and then she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Find then," said Julian, brushing himself off as he got up. "Oy, McGonagall!" he shouted over to a pretty, blonde girl coming down the stairs. Alice watched him race over to the girl, and she was very satisfied when he was slapped while trying the same begging stunt again.

"Is my brother begging for players again?" asked Sylvia from the armchairs by the fire.

"Same as every other year, he's trying to make me feel guilty about not playing," said Alice as she wandered over to join Sylvia. "Isn't it pathetic?"

"No," groaned Julian as he joined them. He was rubbing his rather reddened cheek. "It's painful." The girls laughed at his expense. He sat down on the arm of Alice's chair and put a hand to his temple.

"If it means that much to you, I'll play," said Alice gently and patted Julian on the back.

"No, I'm holding tryouts this Saturday, as always. You don't have to," he said in a defeated yet honest voice.

"Are you all planning to starve yourselves or are you coming to breakfast?" called Sam from the portrait hole. Alice and the Potters got up to join him, and they all left for breakfast.

"I don't know why you don't want to play, Alice. You're a great flier," said Sylvia.

"I played first year, remember?" Alice reminded her.

"Exactly, you loved it," said Julian. "It was your final goal that won the cup for us that year."

"But you remember second year?" Alice again reminded them.

"Who doesn't?" exclaimed Sam. "That was the year you'd been deathly sick all week, played anyways, and your broom was smashed by the Bludger in the final, just after scoring the winning goal again."

Alice grimaced at the memory; "I can't do that again. I swear I saw flames in my peripheral vision, but everyone said there was no fire…"

"We've been through this, Alice," said Sam as they slid down the handrail of the marble staircase. "It was your hair, and it looked like fire because your glasses fell off."

"But it was so clear…" Alice started, but never finished because Luke and Alexa came racing up to them.

"We've been gypped!" exclaimed Alexa.

"Someone messed up the hour glasses," said Luke, as always explaining what Alexa left vague.

"_Hufflepuff_ is leading," said Alexa angrily. The two of them led the way to the hourglasses that showed the House Points; the yellow sand in the Hufflepuff glass was indeed significantly higher than the rest.

"This can't be right!" said Maggie, who was already ogling the hourglasses.

"It's it great?" said Ella as she came up behind them, oblivious to the conversation. "For once, we actually have a chance in the House Cup!"

The rest of the group averted his or her eyes from Ella's smiling face. She cocked her head to the side and opened her mouth to ask them what was wrong when Bryan, ever blunt, came bounding up to join them.

"Is it true?" he asked, despite Alice, Sylvia, Sam, Julian, Luke and Alexa waving their hands and shaking their heads. "Is shmucklepuff really in the lead?"

Ella turned and ran out of the Great Hall. "Nice job, Mr. Congeniality," said Sylvia as she kicked his shin.

"You could at least wait till there's not a Hufflepuff around," said Sam calmly.

"It's a joke!" said Bryan defensively.

"Not to her, it's not," said Alice with an agitated tone.

"Would you all stop being diplomats?" shouted Maggie over the erupting fight. "We all thought it; at least he was honest!" No one said anything but just glared daggers at each other. Alice looked at her watch and walked silently over to the Gryffindor table. The rest of the group followed suit. As the rest of the school came in, the same ritual took place repeatedly. It became the quietest meal the school had ever experienced. The founders even seemed to be on edge.

"I can't wait to see the Hall decked in skeletons and bats…" said Ravenclaw dreamily as she stared across the hall, leaning one elbow on the table.

"I thought we agreed that those things scare the children," said Hufflepuff, her voice and manner both missing her usual cheeriness.

Ravenclaw turned to her and said stiffly, "They're eleven, Helga, not three. They're supposed to be scared on Halloween."

"The older ones perhaps, but are you sure the first years will be all right?" questioned Hufflepuff.

"Come now, girls, it's just decorations," said Gryffindor as he waved a hand dismissively in their direction and ate the last bite of his porridge.

"We don't need your help, you sexist pig," snapped Ravenclaw.

"Actually, if you can't decide on a simple matter of decorating the hall, I think you _do_ need our help," suggested Slytherin as he leaned toward them maliciously. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw stared at them in disgust.

"Come on, Rowena," said Hufflepuff. "We'll reach a compromise elsewhere." With that, the two of them left the Great Hall out of the side entrance. Gryffindor and Slytherin looked at each other, both frustrated with their female counterparts.

"Why, Godric, did we agree to run a school with two women?" asked Slytherin as they turned back to their food. Gryffindor opened his mouth to answer but then realized the entire school was watching. They left out the same side door, uncharacteristically giving no explanation.

The Halloween Feast, usually the noisiest meal, was disturbingly subdued. Students only talked to people at their own table, giving nasty looks at all the others. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff decided on live bats as usual, but they agreed not to use the skeletons. The banquet, as always, was exquisite. The tables were decked with turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, beans, carrots, cranberries, salad, and an assortment of other things. Most students, however, held to their bitterness from the House points fiasco as well as the founders' spat. The two women still spoke curtly to their male counterpoints, and the Houses followed suite. The first Quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff in only a week added to tension as well.

"This is ridiculous," groaned Alice, slamming down her pumpkin juice.

"You're right," said Sam from the seat across from her. He pulled out his wand and chose a potato at random. "Wingardium Leviosa," he mumbled. Sylvia almost shrieked with laughter. Julian clapped a hand over her mouth just in time.

"What the hell are you doing?" said Alice in shock.

"Creating an outlet for the collective up-tight-ness," he said mischievously with his typical Weasley smirk. The steaming potato was directly over the head of an unsuspecting Hufflepuff.

"What the-" started Luke as he noticing the floating spud. Sam let it go and is splashed all over several Hufflepuff girls. They screamed and, of course, retailed. Each grabbed her wand and charmed several vegetables to fly at people's heads. Those whom the vegetables hit also joined the frenzy.

"Sam, you idiot!" shouted Alice as a flaming chicken almost grazed her ear. The founders were attempting to stop the food fight before it snowballed out of control, but they were too late, and they began squabbling themselves.

"It came from _your_ table, Salazar," said Ravenclaw as her shield charm protected her from the pumpkin juice spraying in their direction.

"It certainly wasn't my students," said the now drenched Hufflepuff. She performed a simple drying charm to her canary yellow robes.

"How could either one of you have seen who started it? You were arguing about the fourth year homework load!" scolded Gryffindor. He deflected a dancing, flying head of cauliflower into the wall.

Things were not any better back at the student tables. Maggie and Bryan had formed quite the tag team with one of them gathering the vegetables and the other charming them. Ella had performed a Bubbleheaded charm for protection, but it proved only to be a wonderful target. Alexa simply Vanished everything that came near her. The Gryffindors were having the most fun they had experienced all year. Luke found his way to Alexa and joined her in Vanishing things. Sam and Julian had taken to making their flying objects Unbreakable so that the food would bounce off of everyone's heads.

"Sylvia, what are you doing?" shouted Alice. Sylvia was about to Banish a bowl of potatoes. "Not you too…"

"Alice, duck!" shouted Sylvia, but it was too late; a speeding spoon hit Alice in the ear.

"That's _it!_ Wingardium Leviosa!" Alice shouted as she threw the spoon out of her hair. Positioning Sylvia's mashed potatoes over the direction from wish the spoon had come, she yelled _"Diffindo!"_ and the hump of potatoes exploded over the crowd.

"Wow, that's harsh, Al," said Julian, very impressed.

"I knew your magical prowess would come in handy some day!" said Sam gleefully.

Apparently, mashed potato fireworks were enough to catch the attention of the fighting founders. They nodded at each other and cried, _"FINITO INCANTATEM!"_ All the food fell to the floor with a mighty thud. Any student who was standing on the benches or tables decided to keep what dignity he or she had and climbed down. Upon realizing that her wand was still pointed at the place where the potatoes had blown up, Alice quickly put her hands in her pockets.

"I am disgusted with each and every one of you," said Slytherin in a slimy voice as he wiped some food off of his sleeve. He turned to the others and asked, "Seeing as we can't give detentions to the entire school, what would you three recommend as punishment?"

"Extra homework?" suggested Hufflepuff, a glob of pumpkin pulp still in her hair.

"It's too bad there's only a few sets of manacles on the dungeon ceilings," mused Gryffindor as he stroked his chin. A few troublemakers in the crowd compulsively grabbed their bruised wrists.

Ravenclaw reached over to grab the pulp from Hufflepuff's hair as she gave her idea; "I suggest that everyone is sent to bed early without a replacement for all this wasted dinner."

Slytherin waited for Hufflepuff and Gryffindor to nod in agreement. They did, and he said to the students, "It is settled then. All of you have five minutes to be in your dormitories. Anyone not in his or her dormitory after that time will have a detention. Go." The now morbid school filed out the doors to the entrance hall and then split to go their separate ways. Only then did they realize how hungry they all were.

7


	6. Penalty!

Chapter 5 

"'Penalty! Penalty to Gryffindor! I've never seen such tactics!' …

'YOU CHEATING SCUM! YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B-'"

(PoA, 228)

After Halloween's disappointment, Quidditch was the only thing keeping up the morale of the students. The tradition of pre match attacks began that year when Slytherin team captain Mulciber tried to curse the Second Year Chasers; unfortunately, he tried to execute the attack right outside the staff room. Hufflepuff herself came out of the staff room before anything could happen. Since no attack actually took place, she could not ban him from the match, so she gave him a detention for malicious intent. From then on, every member of the Hufflepuff team went everywhere with an escort.

Alice and Sylvia found the escorts to be rather extreme. Despite their best efforts, the girls could not get close enough to Ella to even say "hello," little less carry on a conversation. Hufflepuff's self titled Honor guard only broke for other Hufflepuffs. The one time Alice had almost talked them in to letting her and Sylvia through, Maggie and Bryan showed up. Bryan played Beater for Slytherin, so naturally the Hufflepuffs moved on to class.

The morning of the match dawned unceremoniously. Conditions were a bit murky, but no rain fell. As usual, breakfast was rather wild among fans while the players themselves hardly spoke and only picked at their food. Almost the entire student body started out to the stands early to get perfect seats.

"They better do a better job today than in practice," said Sylvia as they took top row seats.

"Hufflepuff of Slytherin?" asked Sam vaguely. Maggie and Sylvia both answered, but with different replies. Alice ignored the discussion and watched the players enter the field. Six in canary yellow and six in emerald green lined up across from each other and the quijudge (referee) stood in the center of the pitch with the ball box. She released the two Bludgers first, and then tossed the Quaffle, signaling the players to take off.

"Alice, I know you want nothing to do with my team, but-" Julian began, but Alice cut him off.

"Yes, I'll help you watch their strategies," she finished for him. "I never said I want nothing to do with your team. I only want nothing to do with Bludgers…" she added as a Bludger hit by the Slytherin Beater who was not Bryan broke in two and nearly decapitated Ella and the Slytherin Keeper. The Slytherin captain called a time out, and Bryan repaired the Bludger with a wave of his wand. Ella reluctantly gave the Quaffle to the referee, but only after dawdling while removing her hand from the strap.

"See what I mean?" said Alice as the teams took off again. Julian had a smile on his face that conveyed his love of the danger in Quidditch. The game continued on, but there was an air of aggravation among the Hufflepuff team. Many in the stands noticed the bitterness in their techniques. They scored first with a reverse pass from Ella, but they did not stop to celebrate. Ella caught the Quaffle as it was thrown back into play and seamlessly passed it to her teammates with out so much as a smile.

"That's creepy," said Maggie stoutly. "She's _always_ cheerful."

"She took the House points thing pretty badly," explained Sylvia. Hufflepuff scored two more times, but there was still no celebration from the team. It seemed that they were so determined to stay focused that they would let nothing interfere, and then Slytherin scored. The Hufflepuff team continued the game relentlessly, but they were distracted and missed Slytherin's next two goals. Things were rather boring until a Hufflepuff Beater clumsily sent a Bludger over the crowd.

"Foul! Penalty to Slytherin!" shouted the quijudge. Captain Mulciber flew to the center circle and made the shot: 40-30 Slytherin.

"Look at their faces!" squealed Maggie, pointing at the Hufflepuffs. "Oh, they're out for blood now…" Her statement was unfortunately proven true. Both teams abandoned all rules of fair play and common courtesy. The Chasers seemed to forget about scoring and instead threw the Quaffle at the other team's players, trying to knock them off their brooms. It was no longer a friendly game but a competition to unseat as many players as possible.

"This is ridiculous," snarled Julian. "How are we supposed to play _that_ next month?" Alice nodded curtly in agreement. A rogue Bludger flew right into the back of the stands an inch above their heads.

_"That's it!"_ exclaimed Alice as the quijudge shouted at all the players. The Bludger freed itself from the stands and flew into the quijudge's stomach. "I'm leaving." Maggie didn't notice since she was screaming for blood with the other Slytherins and Hufflepuffs.

Gryffindor and Ravenclaw finally stopped the Quidditch game when Slytherin and Hufflepuff were about to attack each other. Alice, Sylvia and Julian were all waiting in the Great Hall when the crowd finally came in. Everyone had his or her own unique complaint, which was astounding considering that both teams had stooped to the same level.

"What happened?" asked Sylvia as Luke approached the Gryffindor table.

"Game called on account of fouls," groaned Luke. "All players got detention all next week."

"What about the Gryffindor Ravenclaw match next month?" Julian demanded as he seized Luke's robes. Alice and Sylvia pried his fingers loose so Luke could breathe.

"It's postponed, and there won't be any finals after that," said Luke, coughing for breath.

"NO! We were so ready this year! We could have taken the Cup!" Julian whined. Sylvia attempted to control her reflexive twitch, but hit him on the head lightly. The founders returned and lectured the school on Quidditch and the game, but their efforts fell on deaf ears; it was hard to take them seriously while Slytherin and Hufflepuff glared daggers at each other.

3


	7. the ghost of Christmas past

Chapter 6 

"'It is time,' he said, 'for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.'"

(Ootp, 735)

Since Quidditch turned out to be a bigger letdown than Halloween, Christmas break was the only thing keeping together the collective sanity of the school. Several teachers finally gave up on their students and decided to review previous material. Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes consisted of busy work for the two weeks prior to Christmas. The founders' classes, of course, did not follow suite. They each worked the students extra hard as though to make sure the students still needed to pull all-nighters to finish all their homework. Julian found it impossible to finish everything along with his detention from Slytherin for attempting to avoid homework use Legilimency.

"You complain, but-" Alice began as Julian left for detention on the last Monday of term.

"You told me so, I know," replied Julian through a groan. He sighed heavily as the Portrait shut behind him.

The rest of the week became very quiet between the fifth, sixth and seventh years; they literally did not have time in which to talk. Several stressed students received detentions for performing Silencing charms on loud students. Ravenclaw's last class became the last straw for many sixth years. She had been threatening them with a test over the Patronous charm, but settled for the Mobili-spells.

"I hate this, I really do," muttered Sylvia through gritted teeth. "It's terrible to spring such a test on us the last week of term," she added. Sylvia was still having problems moving the stuffed animal on her desk.

"You're not concentrating," said Alice. "Hold still a second, will you? _Mobilicorpus!"_ Sylvia rose into the air just slightly and floated toward the stuffed animal. Maggie silenced her shriek of protests with a lazy wave of her wand. Alice jerked her wand to drop Sylvia on the desk, and Maggie did likewise to return her voice.

"I swear, I'll get you two one of these days," said Sylvia maliciously, rubbing her leg where it had hit the desk. Alice went to the back corner to try her luck with a heavy cabinet.

Unfortunately, Sylvia's involuntary levitation was not the highlight of the class. Aside from several objects flying at people, some students had difficulty pronouncing the spells. Abby Meadows, still determined to prove that Hufflepuff deserved the brief lead they had had in October, could not seem to remember which spell she was trying to perform.

"Mobilicorpio… no… Ilicondio… Incendio?" she shouted, stabbing the pillow on her desk, which immediately ignited in a gigantic flame. "Oh no!" she shrieked and tried to shoot water from her wand, but water had no effect on a magical fire.

"Miss Meadows, what did you do?" shouted Ravenclaw as the fire spread to the closest surrounding desks. "Everybody out!" she yelled to the class. The students ran to the door except for Alice, who had accidentally barricaded herself into a corner with all the cabinets. "Oh shit," she groaned, as she saw the towering flames approaching.

"Alice, just run out!" several people called to her. She gripped her wand tightly and prepared to do some of the fastest spell work she had ever done.

"Propello!" she cried, pointing her wand at the ground and propelling herself upwards. She landed on the top of a cabinet and surveyed the fiery scene. Seeing no path, she used the cooling charm from the beginning of the year in its full force to create a strong wind, which blew the flames away from a few desks. Without hesitation, Alice jumped from her cabinet and used her Propelling charm to hop from desk to desk until she reached the door. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor (who had arrived with most of his class from down the hall when he heard the commotion) slammed the door shut the moment Alice emerged and collapsed.

"Are you all right, dear?" Ravenclaw asked nervously.

"I think so…" said Alice from the floor as she pushed herself up and resigned to invent a Flame Freezing charm. The students gasped as she got to her feet. "What is it?" Alice asked.

"You- you don't feel it?" stammered Maggie.

"Feel- what are you talking about?" Alice demanded. The students collectively pointed at her arms. Alice looked and gasped herself; the outlined images of a feather and rose were glowing like coals, and both of her arms were still on fire, but she felt nothing.

"Alice!" shouted a few as she fainted.

After cleaning up the Charms room, Gryffindor returned to his office to find his great niece rather hysterical. She was pacing on the far side of the room from the fireplace. Her sleeves had been ripped off, revealing the feather on her upper arm and the rose around her wrist, each outlined in flames; they were glowing now.

"Uncle Godric, what's happening to me?" she demanded immediately. "My arms were engulfed in flames, but I felt _nothing_, and the skin isn't even damaged!"

"It's not what's happening, it's what already did," Gryffindor replied calmly. "Alice, you must relax. Sit down, have some tea," he added, indicating the chair by his desk as he took out his want to Conjure a kettle of tea. He poured a cup for Alice and handed it to her.

"What is going on?" Alice asked again. She took a sip of tea and sat down.

Gryffindor opened a cabinet and took out a cloudy, gray colored bowl filled with cloudy, silver colored wisps; they were thoughts, for this was a Pensive. "Alice," he said, "this will all make sense, somehow. It will take time to understand. Bear with me."

"I just want to know what I am," she mumbled sadly.

"Alice, as you know, your parents were one of the first Pureblood and Muggle-born marriages," he began. "This caused a bit of an uproar in the Magical Community. Some were so offended that they made threats."

Alice shifted uncomfortably; "I don't quite see the connection…"

"You shall, child," Gryffindor explained. "One horrible night, a group of fanatical Purebloods led a raid on your house. Your parents put up a brave fight, but they were completely outnumbered," he continued. Alice looked as though something had mentally fallen into place. Gryffindor pushed the Pensive toward her, and she dipped her right hand into the silvery thoughts. Still overwhelmed by emotions, she did not realize that she was falling into her great uncle's memories.

Alice landed in a small, dark room from her nightmares. A dark haired, green-eyed man stood in the corner at wand point, held by two masked wizards in dark robes. Two more masked wizards held a blue-eyed, mousy brown haired woman. Five more laid unmoving on the floor in the center of the room, and yet another masked wizard brought out a small, mousy brown haired girl.

"NO! Not Alice!" screamed the woman.

_"NON! Pas notre fille! Elle n'avait pas de fait torte!"_ shouted the man.

"You should have thought of the repercussions before, Ophelia," said the only other unmasked person in the room, addressing the woman and ignoring the man. It was too dark to make out his features, but his voice alone sent chills up one's spine. "The child was born from filth, is filth, and will never be accepted in either world."

"Mummy! Papa!"

"Unhand her! She has no control over her parentage!" shouted the woman, now livid with anger.

_"Vous êtes MONSTRES!"_ added the man.

"Silence, commoner!" said the unmasked man evilly. "How dare you consider yourself good enough to marry into a pureblood family, especially one so noble as the Gryffindors!"

_"Il faut que vous fermiez la bouche!" _spat the man. The unmasked man turned to him and smiled a horrible smile.

"Fine then," he replied. "I never liked the French, either, and I've had enough of you."

"NO!"

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

_"Jaques!"_

"Mummy, what's wrong with Papa?"

"How dare you do this to my daughter?" Ophelia demanded recklessly, straining against those holding her. "You dare give an innocent toddler fodder for nightmares for years to come?"

"No, no," said the unmasked man in the shadows. "The evidence of such a filthy pair shall not live long enough to _have_ nightmares."

"No…"

_"Avada-"_

_"STUPEFY!"_

"No; it's Gryffindor!"

"GO!"

CrrrRACK!

"Damn," said Gryffindor. He had burst through the door at the last minute and Stunned whomever he could, but the conscious masked wizards had grabbed their leader's body and Vanished with a loud crack. Ophelia ran to her husband's body. Gryffindor, being too familiar with the curse, turned his attention to the young girl. She was not moving and appeared to be Stunned. Gryffindor checked her pulse and breath; bother were present, but just barely. "She's breathing, Ophelia," he said softly.

"You were right, Uncle Godric," she whispered. "No decent magic could ever change a mind… Why did we ever put everyone in so much danger?"

"Ophelia, you should really-"

"If you hadn't gotten here, Alice would be dead because of our foolishness!"

"-look over here." Ophelia stopped babbling and looked at her daughter's nearly lifeless body; something amazing was happening. The girl's mousy brown hair was turning beautiful shades of dark red, bright red, soft oranges and gold. The flaming outlines of a feather and rose, familiar to the present day Alice, were just appearing for the first time on the Alice of the past.

"What does it mean, Godric?" asked Ophelia.

"I don't know…" he replied, stroking his chin. "Apparently, by surviving half of a curse that in its entirety should have killed her, Alice must have become some sort of human Phoenix. I have never seen anything like this."

"How will it affect her?" asked Ophelia as she collapsed by her uncle.

"Again, I do not know," answered Gryffindor, "but I expect she will not remember this night at all. I shall keep you informed."

"Informed? Uncle Godric, surely you don't mean-"

"Yes, I do, Ophelia, you must leave this place. I know these fanatics, and they will be back."

Ophelia took one last look around her ruined home, at her dead husband and unconscious child, and she hung her head sadly. "I understand," she replied sadly. "Take good care of Alice for me. Please, do not tell her how foolish I was until she is old enough to understand." In another loud crack, a black cat sat where Ophelia had a moment ago.

"I shall write you with further detail," said Gryffindor to the cat. "We will tell Alice when she is ready." The cat burred and with another crack, she disappeared.

The memory began to dissolve, and Alice looked up to see her great uncle's office reforming around her. "So that's what happened," she said breathlessly. "That's why I can see thestrals, that's why these images are on my arm, that's why I can speak French…"

"I must apologize," said Gryffindor. "I took this memory from you before you awoke from that night. We did not want you to suffer from something you could not yet begin to comprehend-" he continued, but Alice cut him off.

"So my mother's alive? Where is she? What have you heard from her? Is she still in hiding? What happened to those masked wizards? Did you catch them? Are they-" Suddenly, Alice stopped short. Her eyelids fell half way, and she sank back into her chair. The teacup fell out of her limp hand and shattered on the floor. Gryffindor sighed; the potion for dreamless sleep had finally started working. He cleaned up the pieces of china with a quick wave of his wand, and then he scooped up his great niece and started toward the Gryffindor tower.

Alice woke briefly later that night. She recognized her bed, and she moved her wand from her pillow to her night table. She also slid her glasses off of her face and sat them next to her wand. Still feeling a terrible pain in her temples, she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, when Sylvia started asking questions.

"Alice?" she said softly. Alice pulled the pillow over her head. "I saw your hand, Alice, I know you're awake," Sylvia persisted. "Are you coming to dinner?" Alice still did not answer, but Sylvia would not quit. "I don't know what went on after my brother carried you to Gryffindor's office, but you know we're all here for you."

Alice smiled briefly, but she still kept her silence. Sylvia finally gave up and left for dinner. Alice nodded back to sleep…

"Alice? Are you awake? Alice?" Alice slowly opened her eyes to see Sylvia peeking her head through the hangings. "Oh good, you're alive!" exclaimed Sylvia happily. She ran over to the stairwell and shouted to the Common Room. "Someone go tell Gryffindor she's alive and awake!" The girls heard the sound of thundering footsteps toward the portrait hole and the girls' spiral staircase, but then a loud alarm sounded as a boy apparently tried to climb to the girls' dormitory.

"Damnit," Julian could be heard whining. "I didn't know the stairs did that!" His sister came back over to Alice's bed and threw open the hangings to let in the sunlight.

"I can't believe I slept all morning," yawned Alice, judging the time by the sun's position outside.

"All morning? Alice, you've been asleep for days" coughed Sylvia as she sat down at the foot of Alice's bed. "You fell asleep Friday evening, and we started to get worried Saturday afternoon. Gryffindor said not to fret or anything, and that he had given you a sleeping potion, but on Sunday he was beginning to think, he had accidentally slipped you Draught of the Living Dead! I didn't even know he kept that one on hand!"

"What day is it?" asked Alice as she sat up and reached for her glasses.

"Christmas Eve, my dear," said Gryffindor in the doorway. Julian was just behind him.

"Good morning, Uncle Godric," said Alice through another yawn as she pulled on her dressing gown and sat up.

"You gave us all quite a scare this past weekend," said Gryffindor, smiling down at the children.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that…" Alice mumbled, unsuccessfully hiding her embarrassment.

"No problems, my dear," said Gryffindor in a suppressed laugh. "I think you'll be just fine as soon as you eat. Sylvia, Julian, please bring Alice down for some lunch as soon as she's ready." With that, he left the room as suddenly as he had come. Sylvia and Julian exploded with questions the moment the portrait slammed shut.

"What happened in his office Friday?"

"Were you even awake when I talked to you before dinner Friday?"

"What did Gryffindor tell you?"

"What happened in the Charms room, anyways?"

"Would you two shut up?" yawned Alice as she fell back on the pillows. "How'd you get up here, anyways?" she asked Julian.

"Gryffindor took my arm and kind of… glided, I don't know," Julian trailed off. "What happened Friday?"

"Will one of you hand me my robes?" Alice asked, totally ignoring his question. Sylvia handed Alice's robes to her and pulled the hangings shut. Alice dressed herself quickly and emerged a moment later. She hopped out of the bed and, true to form, overestimated her ability to function after trauma. She fell right back onto the bed. After sighing heavily, she asked her friends, "Mind giving me a hand?"

"Certainly!" said Sylvia happily. She pulled out her wand and cried, "_Mobilicorpus!"_ Alice rose a few feet in the air as she desperately reached for her wand.

"I hate you right now," she said dully after Sylvia moved her out of reach from the bedside table.

"I told you I'd get you back!" laughed Sylvia. Julian dug out his own wand and returned Alice to a standing position. She succeeded at standing, but Julian had to help her down the stairs.

"So, what did Gryffindor tell you?" Sylvia pestered at lunch.

"Where's Luke? He usually sits with us?" Alice commented, ignoring the question again.

"Alice!" Sylvia whined.

"Sylvie, don't-" warned Julian, but she did not heed him.

"Why won't you tell us anything, Alice? It's like you don't trust us anymore!" Sylvia exploded. It echoed throughout the hall, which was empty because the few students at school for Christmas had already eaten and left.

Alice placed her fork next to her plate in forced calm. "Maybe I'm not ready to tell you," she said softly. "Maybe I don't want to know it myself." Sylvia tried several times to concoct a response, but after failing, she got up and left, presumably for the Gryffindor tower.

Julian moved closer to Alice and put his hand over hers gently. "Don't mind her," he said soothingly. "She doesn't understand- well, I don't either, but she's- we're-"

"Go strategize."

"Thank you."

With that, Julian ran after his sister.

Julian awoke lat on the night of Christmas Eve. He could tell something was wrong before he opened his eyes. He reached over to open the hangings just enough to see the clock; it was 2 AM. Sighing, he pushed the hangings the rest of the way open and climbed out of bed. He felt his way down to the Common Room where, as expected, he saw Alice sitting by the fire. She looked beautiful in the hearth light, even though the look on her face added an element of the tragic.

"A little late, don't you think?" said Julian quietly.

"I have all the time in the world," Alice whispered. Julian sat down by her on the brick. He almost put his arm around her, but thought better of it. "I still can't believe it," she continued. "I knew these-" she indicated her right arm "-were from when my parents disappeared, but I never thought…"

Julian hesitated as she trailed off, but decided to ask one more time: "What did Gryffindor tell you that afternoon?" Alice looked up into his dark eyes. Julian could tell she was sizing him up to see if he was trustworthy, and she seemed to be satisfied. Julian breathed a small sigh of relief as she settled in to tell her tale; they had been friends for all of his seven long years, but even one with no skill in Legilimency could see that Alice had closed herself off to most.

"Julian, I… I guess I'm not human. No one has ever had a similar condition, so no formal name exists," she started uncertainly, but quickly moved on to what she did know. "Great Uncle Godric says I'm like a human phoenix." She stopped to see his reaction.

"I'm listening," Julian said softly, doing his best to mask the utter shock he felt.

"Great Uncle Godric doesn't know what powers I have, exactly. We just know about the fire thing…I think I might have the Apparation-Disapparation, probably the healing properties in my tears. I feel like I'm going to start molting," she explained, her anxiety verbally rising with each sentence.

"Alice," said Julian in an attempt to calm her down.

"This is crazy! I ran out of a fire with a burning arm, and I felt nothing!" she exclaimed. "It's enough to be the butt of every joke because of advanced magic I can do, but now I'll be dodging whispers about being a bird! All this because my parents didn't think about the consequences of Wizard nobility marrying a Muggle born! Thanks to them, I'm a damn phoenix, my father's dead, and my mother was last seen in the form of a cat!"

Julian decided that it would be best not to aggravate Alice further with questions about her parents right now. "Alice, are you all right?" he asked instead.

She paused for a moment and stared into the fire. She stuck her fingertips into the magical flame. Upon removing it, she saw her fingers engulfed in flame, although her flesh remained intact. "I should _not_ be able to do this," she said resolutely.

Julian took hold of her hand and blew it out like a candle. The flames from the hearth reflected off the glass in her spectacles; she looked in her essence, bathed in firelight. Julian raised a hand and took off her spectacles to better look into her eyes. Alice looked back intently and instantly regretted it. Again, even an unskilled Legilimens could see her feelings. "Julian, I can't take this!" Alice finally exploded, and she let herself fall into him, taking him by surprise. "How do I manage this? How could I go so long without noticing that I'm a damn phoenix?"

Julian, much taken aback, pulled Alice into a hug. Alice buried her head in his shoulder and she finally allowed herself to cry. "Alice," Julian cooed, "it's fine, just try to relax."

"This is crazy," Alice repeated through her sobs. As the tears dried, she sat back up and wiped her eyes. "I really should start saving and selling this," she mumbled. "I'm sorry," she added with a fake laugh. "I don't really know how to react to this." Julian held out the spectacles to her, and she put them back on. "I suppose I should be getting back to bed, anyways," Alice whispered, staring at the ground.

"It's late," said Julian after a bit of hesitation. They both stood up and started toward the spiral staircases. Julian put a comforting arm around her, and she did not protest. Alice stopped and turned to him just as they reached the stairs.

"Thank you," she said very quietly. "You didn't have to-" she began to explain, but before she could finish speaking, Julian pulled her into soft, gentle kiss. It was _not_ a kiss between close friends. Later that evening, Julian would worry that perhaps she had been too exhausted to protest, and he hope she did not think he was taking advantage of her vulnerable state, but at this moment, he was the happiest Gryffindor alive. Alice looked up at him when they finally broke apart; for the first time in days, her eyes smiled and lost the haunted look she had been wearing since the fire.

"Goodnight," they both whispered, and each wandered up his or her own spiral staircase feeling a horrific combination of happiness, confusion, exhaustion, influenza and elation.

The rest of vacation passed peacefully, for once. The Gryffindor Tower was deserted except for Alice and the Potters, so they rarely went to bed before daybreak and just stopped going down for breakfast. Julian helped Alice explain what they knew of her gifts to Sylvia, and after an awkward moment in which Sylvia asked why Julian was told first, all went well.

"Alice, do the candle thing again!" Sylvia pleaded once evening.

"_Sylvia…_" Julian whined, taking Alice's hand protectively. Alice took her free hand and stuck it in the fire. She pulled out her hand and stared at it as the flame continued to burn.

"Does it hurt?" asked Sylvia.

"No, I'm totally resistant," said Alice. "I'm getting used to it." She waved her hand around and watched the flame obsessively.

"You're not going to be some pyromaniac, are you?" asked Sylvia, watching the flaming hand closely.

"Are you kidding?" said Julian sarcastically. "She was born as one."

"Actually, I wasn't," Alice corrected indifferently as she willed the fire out. "All of this was the result of a Killing Curse interrupted."

"_WHAT?"_ said both Potters as they turned to face Alice. She smiled and explained.

"No one liked that my parents were married since my mother was Pureblood and my father was Muggle-born. A few of the displeased attacked our house. They killed my father- that's why I can see thestrals- and tried to kill me, but Great Uncle Godric showed up just in time. It was after the interrupted curse that my hair turned these colors and I got these." She pulled up her right sleeve and showed her friends the images burned into her skin.

Sylvia sprang forward and grabbed Alice's arm, almost yanking it out of its socket. "That's so amazing!" she exclaimed. At the same time, Julian's eyes bulged and he looked at Alice quizzically. They had such reactions because Alice had never shown her arm willingly.

"I don't know what it means," she said as she twirled a lock of hair around her left index finger.

"Do they… do anything?" Julian asked delicately.

"Well, they glow when I do something Phoenix-y, like the fire thing," replied Alice. "Great Uncle Godric says I won't fully know until…" She stopped because she could not bring herself to say, "Until I die." The other two seemed to understand and nodded. Sylvia traced the rose around Alice's wrist while Julian's inspection of the feather evolved into gently stroking her arm. Sylvia looked up from the rose and saw Alice and her brother. Smiling knowingly, she got to her feet and left the Common Room via the spiral staircase.

Alice looked up at Julian sweetly. "I have to ask," she said, breaking the silence, "what would you call, er… us?"

Julian thought a moment before answering. "Well, I suppose I can't properly court you until we're out of school," he replied with a smirk.

"Oh, there's always summer," said Alice with a smile. "I'm sure Great Uncle Godric would approve." Julian smiled back at her and kissed her hand.

13


	8. frustrations with pink

Chapter 7 

"Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the Entrance Hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs. Not just any dwarfs, however. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps."

(CoS, 176)

Classes resumed as close to normally as they had ever been. The story about Alice's flame resistance had spread like wild fire as soon as everyone arrived back, even though it had happened almost a month ago. Alice was still reluctant to talk about it and swore Julian and Sylvia to secrecy. She eventually cracked and told Sam, Bryan and Maggie, but only after the three of them confiscated her wand and locked her in a broom closet. Julian and Sylvia reamed them out as soon as they found the three talking to a door, but it was not all bad; Alice figured out that as a Phoenix, she could Apparate and Disapparate on Hogwarts grounds.

When the school was not discussing Alice's sudden asbestos-like qualities, they were marveling at the founders' sudden truce. Alice and the Potters had rarely seen the staff all Christmas break, which was very unusual. Apparently, judging by their smiles and agreeable natures, they had come to a monumental compromise.

"It's about time they made up!" said Sylvia one morning at breakfast while the staff chatted animatedly.

"What were they fighting about, anyways?" Sam asked through a mouthful of bacon. The group sat in a moment of collective silence pondering the cause of the fight. Coming to no concrete conclusion, they turned to Alice with expectant looks.

Alice sighed as she put down her fork. "Don't worry about the past," she told them flatly and left the table.

Soon, girls were becoming extra giggly around boys they liked, boys became skittish around the giggly girls, and several students received detention for attempting to make love potions. Valentine's Day was sneaking up on the school once again. Even several on the teaching staff were excited for the holiday. Professor Kohara of the Ancient Runes department went so far as to redecorate her room in blinding pinks and reds.

The actual holiday was horrendous. Ella and Alexa had complained all week about the sudden pink all over their Common Rooms, but the color had spread like a plague to the rest of the school on Valentine's Day. Brick and Stone were covered by pink and red, candy hearts floated in the hallways, and confetti hearts fell from the ceilings. The Great Hall was also covered in pink, red and white snow.

_"Oh…my…God…"_ said Maggie in disgust when she entered the room. Her face contorted as she stepped in a pile of magical snow.

"Adorable," said Alice flatly when Maggie passed by.

"Alice, care to explain the sudden Holiday Spirit?" asked Sylvia. Alice shrugged and pointed to the staff table. Slytherin and Gryffindor sat in identical stances with their arms folded across their chests and stared straight ahead, each looking rather violated. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, however, were rather giggly as they stood up to address the school.

"Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!" called Hufflepuff over the sea of unenthusiastic faces. A collective sigh came from the student body. The two babbled on for a while about the mood and history of the day, but it was just that: babble and waffle. None of the students listened until Ravenclaw ushered in several "card carrying Eroses:" angry, club-carrying dwarfs with temporary golden wings magicked on to their backs.

"Kill me now. Please," said Sam as he held a fork up to Julian, who had slammed his head onto the table (right into his French toast and syrup).

_"Look at Gryffindor and Slytherin!"_ hissed Sylvia. The other two founders had turned identical shades of puce.

All day, class was interrupted consistently; aside from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, the teachers were not in the least bit happy. Recipients of Valentines received detentions in Slytherin's classroom. Other teachers were caught grumbling about the female founders, and the phrase "no consideration" could be heard several times an hour.

Tempers exploded before dinner. The doors of the Great Hall appeared to be still closed when Alice and her friends came down from the Gryffindor Tower, and the student body gathered at the keyhole. A few stray angry words were heard about the yelling inside. "Oh no…" groaned Alice as she put a hand to her temple. Something thudded against the door.

"To think- those are the people who give me detention for _innocently_ shoving people in the corridors," said Bryan. Maggie gave him a warning look.

"It was like this all summer," Alice sighed, leaning against the wall. "They argued almost nonstop. No one's around, so they don't have to save face."

"How many things can there be to fight about?" asked Luke naively. The rest of the group of Gryffindors rolled their eyes. A crashing sound against the door and a stream of cuss words sent half the crowd into hysterics. The other half stared nervously at the door.

"That's it," said Alice definitely as she revolved on the spot and Disapparated in a burst of flame. She reappeared in the Great Hall; Gryffindor and Slytherin standing on one side of the room and Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw on the other. Both pairs were covered in some of dinner, and each person had his or her wand.

"Good evening, Alice, dear," said Gryffindor through gritted teeth, not taking his eyes off the women for even a moment.

Alice held in a snort. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," she replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Not at all," said Slytherin. He matched her bid of sarcasm and raised her with disdain.

"Do you need something, dear?" asked Ravenclaw, still giving the men the evil eye.

Alice sighed. "The other students and I were wondering if dinner will be delayed any longer, that's all," she said. The founders looked at each other and the mess they had made of the Great Hall.

"Dinner will be provided in the Common Rooms," said Gryffindor finitely as he put his wand away. Fire blazed in the women's eyes as he took charge once again, but for Alice's sake, they remained silent.

"I'll inform the students, I'm sure they're starving," said Alice, matching Slytherin's disdain and adding one last frustrated smile before she Disapparated in another burst of flame.

4


	9. because he threw the quaffle at my head!

Chapter 8 

"The Hufflepuffs, who were usually on excellent terms with Gryffindors had turned remarkably cold toward the whole lot of them… He expected nothing less than vicious insults from the Slytherins… He had hoped the Ravenclaws might have found it in their hearts to support him… He was wrong, however."

(GoF, 257, 260)

The time had come at last for the almost forgotten Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match. After the mess the other game had caused, this one was hardly anticipated. Any fouls at all could be cause for calling off the game and calling on detentions. "They may as well cancel," sighed Julian miserably. "There's too many rules, they may as well full out cancel."

"Oh, quit complaining!" everyone shouted back at him continuously. The day of the match came at last on a raining day in late March. Even though the entire school turned out for the match, they were nowhere near as excited as usual.

The founders themselves were refereeing. A strange occurrence had come with new truces; Gryffindor had forgiven Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff for the Valentine's incident, but Slytherin had not. In fact, a rift was forming between the two men because of the women. _Never_ had there been a fight between them, but it was quickly becoming three versus one in the founders and their respective Houses.

Julian led the Gryffindor team dressed in scarlet onto the pitch. Each player looked dismal, as if the game was a mere formality, which it was. Alice looked down at the players from her seat; neither Sam nor Julian gave her a wave as was usual, but instead they averted their gazes- Sam in annoyance and Julian in embarrassment. Even though the game did not count toward anything, Alice had tried to persuade Julian and Sam that it was still Quidditch; therefore it would be fun no matter what.

"No pressure, you see?" she had explained.

"Alice, no offence, but you are _not_ the one to be convincing us to play," Julian groaned.

"What…?"

"You gave up, so shut up," Sam snapped, completely devoid of tact. Alice glared at him, and he quickly shut his mouth after seeing the fire behind her expression.

"Mount your brooms!" called Hufflepuff, bringing Alice's mental focus back to the match. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor stood by Hufflepuff while Slytherin stood off to the other side scowling. The teams mounted and prepared to fly.

"On my whistle then," said Ravenclaw. "Three, Two, One-" she blew the whistle and everyone kicked off. The pitch quickly became a blur of red and blue. Gryffindor scored twice before the refs became nasty.

"So, Godric, letting the women run everything, I see?" Slytherin taunted as he flew past Gryffindor with a cold glint in his eyes.

"It's called compromise, Sal, look it up," said Gryffindor without missing a beat. Slytherin flew off in a huff. Ravenclaw scored once after intercepting a bad pass from Gryffindor, and immediately following that, Julian scored twice. Then the game turned ugly. Ravenclaw's Beaters "accidentally" hit the Bludgers directly into the hands of some Gryffindor Chasers. Sam "accidentally" swung his bat at their brooms. The Gryffindor Keeper "accidentally" kicked a Ravenclaw Chaser off her broom. The founders tried to catch all the cheats, but Slytherin started calling penalties on everything.

"I can't believe this," groaned Alice with her head in her hands.

"Penalty to Ravenclaw!" said Slytherin.

"For _what?_"

"Kicking."

"I was _falling_ 'cos he threw the Quaffle at my head!"

"Yes, penalty to Gryffindor, too!" chimed Hufflepuff.

"But he hit my hand with his bat!"

"Penalty to Ravenclaw, then" reasoned Gryffindor.

"What about when she scratched my eye?"

"Penalty to Gryffindor," said Ravenclaw

"I DID NOT! You tried to kick me in the stomach, and I was knocking your foot away!"

"Penalty to Ravenclaw," said Slytherin.

"What about ours that isn't?"

"What?"

"Hey, where is everyone going?" Julian realized. The crowd was filing out, all shaking their heads.

"Oh, do continue, we don't want to interrupt your argument with this silly matter of the match," said a second year Ravenclaw who was leaving the front row.

No on in his or her right mind said the word "Quidditch" for the rest of the month. April came, hailed by pouring rain. Outside classes were flooded out often, and the lake was spreading its banks by the hour. The castle, usually emptying out at that time of year, seemed fuller than it had during the winter months. Easter decorations were appearing in the corridors, classrooms, the Great Hall- everywhere except the dungeons. Slytherin refused to take part in anything communal; he only came to meals for a few minutes at the beginning or end.

"I've never wanted to go home for holidays more than I do right now," groaned Alexa as she and Luke passed Alice, Sylvia and Maggie. Alice inwardly fumed, not needing another reminder that others had the option to get out of the castle.

"Who is actually staying over break?" she asked miserably.

"Not me! Mum and Dad are taking me to France!" announced Maggie for the seventeenth time that day. Alice groaned and waved a dismal goodbye to Maggie as she left toward the Slytherin Common Room.

Sylvia sighed, "We're stuck here, too, me and Julian. We'll hide away in the Tower all week if need be."

"I think he's still mad at me about the match," Alice replied sheepishly. Sylvia stuffed her fist in her mouth to stifle a mad giggling fit. "What?" Alice demanded.

"Mad at you? Alice, my brother's been wild about you for ages. He was just embarrassed for chewing you out before the match!" she explained. Alice sighed and continued on to the girls' dormitory with a small smile on her face.

4


	10. nothing lasts forever

Chapter 9 

"'After a while, there was a serious argument between Slyterin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school… The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden Chamber in the castle… The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within…'"

(CoS, 114)

Easter passed just as dismally as Alice had expected. The few students remaining at the school had eaten dinner in shifts by House, only passing each other on entrance and exit. All threw each other nasty looks and the occasional passing insult. The teachers were being civil, so nothing escalated beyond name-calling. No one was in a good enough mood to remember the food, or that the house elves had outdone themselves in a futile attempt to raise spirits.

Sadly, the school survived only one week before the battle lines were officially drawn. It was the week before exams when the Gryffindors came back from dinner to quite the site. "What the-" was all Julian managed to say before Alice and his sister clapped their hands over his mouth. The room was a mess. Curtains were torn down, chairs were ripped, and the entire room was littered with broken personal belongings.

"Who could have done this?" exclaimed some younger students. Questions and pseudo-answers flew wild, but they all eventually turned to Alice, who was holding the remains of two shredded pictures.

_"Anyone_ could have gotten in here," she sighed, fighting back tears. In the spirit of unity, no one had ever thought to design the dormitories to keep people out. Alice turned around and left to fetch her great uncle.

Spirits reached an all time low. Slytherin's seclusion had spread through his entire House. None of them appeared outside their Common Room aside from lessons and meals. Exams, at least, provided a distraction from the hell that the school was becoming. Everyone stuck to their books and notes, and almost no one associated with other humans.

A rift had been growing between Ella and the rest of their little group ever since the House points fiasco; she no longer spoke to any of them and kept to her friends from the Quidditch team. Alexa also severed ties; Luke spent a few days in seclusion after she broke up with him. Alice had been particularly disappointed when Maggie and Bryan had been spotted wearing anti-Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw badges. Sam and Julian tried to adopt anti-Slytherin badges the next day, but Alice caught them before they could leave the Common Room.

"Hey, there's another duel going on!" cried Wulfric Dumbledore as he raced through the portrait hole two days before exams.

"Who is it this time?" sighed Sylvia dejectedly.

"Weasley and Black!"

"What?" exclaimed Alice, Sylvia and Julian as they races toward the portrait hole. Sure enough, there they were, firing spell after spell at each other in a rainbow of light. Maggie and her gang of Slytherin friends were cheering Bryan.

"What do you think you're doing?" shouted Julian. Bryan looked to see who shouted, and Sam to the chance to shoot a spell at him. He dodged the spell and shot a fiery ball at the group of Gryffindors. Alice, however, intercepted it and held it in a fist. Bryan glared at her, but he was forced to break his glare to avoid Sam's next attack.

"How many duels does this make for the week?" asked Luke from the Common Room.

"Five so far," replied Sylvia," but this is the first between any seventh years…" Julian turned to her and instructed her to go back inside to keep everyone else in there.

"I'm staying; you'll need me," said Alice before he could tell her the same. The pair dove to the side to duck an Entrails Expelling Curse. Sam fired back a series of Shock Spells amidst jeers (mainly from Maggie).

"You're on my last nerve, Weasley!" Bryan shouted, holding his wand ready.

"Feeling's mutual, Black," said Sam.

A dark look crept into Bryan's eyes. "Then I'm sure you'll understand why I'm doing _this_-," he said, smiling evilly.

"Oh no," mumbled Alice as she alone realized what was coming, and that there was no way that Sam would be able to counter it.

_"Cruci-"_

_"Stupefy!" _Bryan fell over in a Stunned sleep; Sam whipped around to see from where the spell had come, and his face was white as a ghost. Alice collapsed backwards onto Julian's waiting arms, her wand still out-stretched. The gang of Slytherins raced over to Bryan, and Maggie pulled out her want to revive him. Alice and Julian helped Sam over to the portrait hole.

"This isn't over, Mudblood-lovers!" shouted Maggie. Alice stopped dead as she was climbing through the entryway. She looked up at Maggie and saw no remnants of the girl who had been her best friend. Turning away, she allowed Julian to pull her the rest of the way in.

Exams, the studying distraction, were more a hindrance than help. Although most were as difficult as expected, Slytherin used them to get revenge on the lot. All of his exams had small yet crucial questions that only a pureblood would know; it was almost more history than potions. For example:

_In a situation not unlike Garfunkle the Grant's, which potion would be most helpful? Describe how to brew it and submit a sample._

Of course, since there was no History of Magic class yet, no one who had grown up in a non-Wizarding household would know that Garfunkle the Grant had invented the Polyjuice Potion to find out if his wife was faithful to him (she was not). For the other founders, it was the last straw: Slytherin had finally allowed his prejudices to interfere with education. They bonded together stronger than ever and prepared to face him.

"They confronted him?" Luke exclaimed, dropping his fork.

"They stopped fighting long enough to be constructive?" added Sam.

"Uncle decided to finally do what was best for everyone," replied Alice. "I just hope things don't-"

_"SALAZAR!_ You can't-"

The doors to the Great Hall flew open in what would become known as an overdramatic fashion. Slytherin stormed in with the other founders on his heels. He turned on the spot in the center of the hall, his black cape billowing majestically around his lean form. "I've had enough of you Mudblood loving fools! For decades I've put up with your ridiculous ideas and delusions of equality between Muggles and Magic, all the while watching my own wishes be cast aside like molding pumpkin juice! No longer will I stand for your peddling of our secrets to Muggle families! Is nothing sacred to any of you?"

The entire hall was silent. Muggle-born students cowered and tried to hide themselves from Slytherin's sight as though he would lash out at them. The Slytherins, however, gazed reverently at their Head of House with the greatest admiration. Gryffindor stood facing his former friend, Ravenclaw on his right and Hufflepuff on his left.

"If your determination to teach only purebloods and pass on your questionable practices will carry you as far as this, Salazar," said Gryfindor," we have reached a parting of the ways. You must act as you see fit, and we- we shall act as we see fit." He and the two women stared at Slytherin not in a challenging manner, but merely watching for his reaction. He seemed to be considering his options. Judging by his hand in his cloak, presumably holding his wand, he had expected them to attack. Fleeing a mutiny is much more glorified than leaving friends in a huff.

Slytherin regained composure, leaning back on his heels and adapting a lazy, drawling and superior tone of voice. "Fine then, Godric. I shall leave you to your idealism. However, do not expect my presence to disappear. I, in face, shall linger in this castle longer than any of you. You may think you have defeated me, but I shall have my revenge when my true heir arrives at this school; all shall face the horror within my Chamber of Secrets!" He stopped here as he realized that his intimidating calm had left him and he was pointing imperiously at Gryffindor with a crazed look on his face. "I bid you good day," he said. With that, he stormed past his former friends and out the front doors.

None ever saw him set foot on the Hogwarts grounds again.

A very subdued student body left Hogwarts after exams. They had spent the last evening confined to their dormitories while the founders searched for the Chamber Slytherin had mentioned, but their efforts came to no avail. Very few spoke more than necessary. Many Slytherins claimed they would not return (their parents would say otherwise). All duels stopped, and a new unity formed between Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Although they little trusted each other, each member had at least one close friend who was Muggle-born, and therefore they began to sympathize with each other.

The next morning, students expected a leaving speech, but they did not even receive a wave goodbye from the staff. The remaining founders seemed incapable of noble words. Ella waved to Alice from her crowd of Quidditch friends, and Alexa was seen trying to talk to Luke. Alice and Sylvia waved back, but Luke averted his eyes and joined Sam and Julian when they passed by. Some feelings were hurt beyond repair.

Maggie and Bryan remained firmly planted at the Slytherin table, blocking out all looks from their former friends.

A new normalcy had arrived at Hogwarts; and everyone knew that things would never again be the way the founders had intended. Eden may have been lost, but life continued, as it always does.

5


	11. epilogue

Epilogue 

A figure dressed entirely in black walked along a busy street undisturbed against the flow of people. She wore a tight black tank top, black leather skirt, stylish black boots, black trench coat, and she gazed at the world through light blue, piercing eyes. She also wore a black belt around her waist, off of which hung a slim pocket on her left side. Her soft hair was every shade of red and gold imaginable, and it fell just below her shoulders, framing her pale face. She was beautiful in her mystery, yet no one paid her the slightest notice. Stranger still, she did not seem to notice or even care that she was an extremely rare occurrence on a London street.

A cool breeze from an alleyway to her left blew across the girl's face. She reached for what was contained in the long, slim pocket and unsheathed a perfectly cylindrical piece of thin wood. She silently made her way through the crowd and looked down the alley. She arrived just in time to see a flash of flame, which left behind a stunning scarlet bird with golden tail feathers.

"Fawkes," said the dark clad figure. She walked down the alley to meet her old friend.

_You have been missed, Alice,_ the phoenix told her. Alice had finally begun to understand Fawkes' communication in the past century. It was too similar to Parseltongue for her liking, but she would have gone crazy if it had not been for this one friend who, like her, was cursed with immortality.

"I feel ridiculous dressed like this around you," said Alice. She looked down at herself in embarrassment; she bounced back and forth between both worlds sporadically, but she usually made certain that the Wizarding world did not see her in her Muggle apparel.

_You look fine,_ replied Fawkes. _Your presence is requested at Hogwarts._

"Hogwarts?" exclaimed Alice. She had not returned to Hogwarts since her great uncle's death, and she had worked hard to keep her identity a secret.

_It's about Harry,_ Fawkes informed her gently.

Alice softened; "I should have known Dumbledore would figure me out sooner or later," she said. Although she had never joined the Order of the Phoenix, she had offered her anonymous assistance from the sidelines.

_Albus is dead,_ Fawkes told her, and Alice dropped her wand in shock.

"He's _what?"_ she exclaimed.

Fawkes cocked his beautiful head to one side, as if to ask, _Will you come?_

"Yes, of course I will," replied Alice. "I shall be there tomorrow."

Fawkes nodded and disappeared in the same way he had come. Alice turned on the spot and Disapparated within a flame.

Alice arrived at Hogwarts the next day. She wandered around the castle sightseeing for a bit before she made her way toward the statue of a Gargoyle that marked the entrance to the Headmaster's office. She marveled at the changes that had occurred; some brought joy, a few brought sorrows, and far more brought sheer amusement.

"May I help you?" asked a strict looking witch in emerald robes standing at the foot of the normally hidden staircase to the headmaster's office. She wore her gray hair in a tight bun, and her spectacles gleamed in the torchlight. Her demeanor was strict, but her eyes had a sense of calm dignity about them.

"You must be Professor McGonagall," said Alice politely. Despite being almost nine hundred fifty years older than the woman, Alice spoke with the humility of the age she looked, which at this time was about twenty years old. She offered her right hand to shake; she made certain that her sleeve slid up just enough to reveal the rose encircling her wrist.

Professor McGonagall's eyes bulged slightly, and a small gasp escaped her. "Oh my, you must be- do come in" she stuttered, gesturing for Alice to come up to the office.

Just then, a black haired, green-eyed boy of almost seventeen turned the corner, walking briskly down the hallway. A tall, red haired, freckle faced boy and a bushy haired girl followed him. Alice took a double take; the black haired boy looked exactly like Julian, but this boy must have inherited Alice's eyes since his glasses were almost half an inch thick. The red haired boy was obviously a descendant of Sam and Sylvia, but the girl looked unfamiliar. They had their heads close together in quiet discussion as though planning something important. "Hello, Professor," said the girl as they neared.

"Oh good, Potter, I was about to send for you," said Professor McGonagall to the dark haired boy. Harry looked up and stopped suddenly as soon as he saw Alice. "Come in, all of you."

Harry stared at Alice quizzically as though he was experiencing massive déja vu. Alice chuckled and smiled knowingly. "Harry Potter, I take it?" she asked lightly with a small smirk. Harry nodded. "I think I have a lot to tell you," she said.

_Fin_

3


End file.
